DGCA audit finds gaps in quality control of Air India’s widebody simulators
DGCA on Tuesday suspended the approval for Air India’s Mumbai Aviation Training Organisation. The facility houses the simulator for Boeing 777, 787 and 737 pilots.
Simulators are used to familiarize pilots with the plane's operational procedures and to prepare them for all situations by creating real world scenarios in the cockpit.
The suspension of the simulators will hit training of the pilots for Air India’s fleet which primarily operates to Europe and North America. The airline is rapidly expanding its wide body fleet, leasing older aircraft in the short term.
Sources said during a routine inspection of the facility, DGCA auditors found that the approval for quality manual of the facility had expired.
Air India has also not appointed a Quality Control Officer for the facility after the previous person had quit the company. The audits are a part of DGCA's continuous monitoring to ensure airlines are complying to rules.
“In the absence of no approval of the quality manual and no appointed personnel, preventive maintenance tasks were dispensed selectively without framing any Standard Operating Procedure as is mandated by the regulator,” said a person aware of the development.
Air India didn’t respond to queries on the topic; however, an official said that corrective steps are being taken and the airline will approach the DGCA soon after the steps are taken
A senior DGCA official said that the regulator will take a call on the restoration of the training facility after the airline takes all the steps.
Air India wide-body fleet comprises Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
